Above: a tour by Minister of Agriculture Derrick Kellier at Appleton Estate

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s Appleton Estate has been making major improvements to its factory operations.

The changes include new factory equipment and new methods to boost sugar cane yield, according to the government.

“Clearly, they have modernized the factory over the last couple of years, brought in new equipment and seems to have made the plant a more efficient and production-oriented operation,” said Agriculture Minister Derrick Kellier, who recently toured the rum-making estate. “That will bode well for them because if you want to be able to compete on a national and international scale, you have to have high levels of productivity in your operation.”

Keller said that in the Estate’s field operations, “we have clearly seen where their agronomic practices are in keeping with high levels of productivity and clearly, the gains that they have made and practices that they have employed are paying dividends to them.”

Those include a waste to energy project that has enabled Appleotn to generate its own energy.

“This is something that ought to be commended, because that, in itself, will help them to reduce cost to make them more competitive,” he said.